1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display device that presents image information simultaneously to a plurality of people at conferences, presentations, exhibitions, etc., and to a program and method that controls image data to be output to an external display device connected to a computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Projectors, large-screen display devices and so on have been utilized for allowing a plurality of people to share video information at the same time at small meetings, small and large conferences, seminars, etc. In particular, projectors are able to be carried, allowing all the participants to see the same material and recognize its contents at the same time. Therefore, the projectors are useful in implementing efficient conferences and meetings or persuasive presentations.
Conventional projectors are not so light as to be carried with ease. Thus, they can only be moved from a room to another in the same building and have poor portability. However, electronic devices have recently been reduced in size and weight owing to advances in integrated-circuit technology. For this reason, projectors are also being realized which are so compact as to be carried with ease.
With increase in portability, a scene in which a projector is taken out with ease and utilized for business talks or presentations is also spreading. Projection display by a projector has made it possible to make presentations smartly without causing people to see the display screen of a notebook personal computer in unnatural posture.
A technique related to projectors is to make LED light sources practicable. The LED light sources increase the compactness and portability of the projectors and are fast in lighting and stabilization, allowing the setup time to be reduced.
Incorporating a function of reading a memory card into a projector and storing necessary data into the memory card has eliminated the necessity of carrying a notebook personal computer along with the projector.
Recently, the network function is being incorporated into projectors as well. A projector having the wireless or wire LAN function can capture necessary data from a server or personal computer over the network for making presentations. In addition, hot spots (registered trade mark) have spread over conference rooms of hotels, airports, fast-food restaurants, etc., making the network function easier to use.
Thus, as the portability and maneuverability of projectors increases, an opportunity of performing various setting operations in other places has been increasing. The setting operations include basic setting of brightness, contrast, and so on, confirmation and selection of data to be presented, and downloading data from a server or personal computer into a projector.
At this point, it is the normal practice to select an object file by displaying a list of files from the computer or remote server in the form of a directory and confirm data contents.
In such projectors, techniques to automatically turn a single display device ON or OFF are also known (for example, see Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Nos. 1-273062, 11-167375 and 2002-189548).